1881 Watch Tower - A2Z.org

now they die for their own willful sin--the second death. Thereis neither forgiveness nor excuse for such sin; they must havethe full penalty and die. They have lightly esteemed the ransomafter they knew of it, and thus have "trodden under foot the Sonof GodR261 : page 54and counted the blood of the covenant wherewith they weresanctified (set apart as new creatures) an unholy (ordinary--common) thing, and done despite (disrespect) unto the spirit of(favor) grace."These have no hope; they could not be recovered from thesecond death in any other way than as Adam and his childrenwere redeemed from the first death--i.e., by some one dying fortheir sin as Jesus died for Adam's sin. Will Jesus die again forthem? No, "Christ being risen dieth no more; death hath no moredominion over him." Nor could there be any object in bringingsuch to life again; having had full redemption, and having cometo know both Good and Evil, if they love evil rather than goodand willfully do it, let them be deprived of life. All will say it islove on the part of our Father to deprive them of life, which, ifcontinued, would be only of injury and evil both to themselvesand others.It will readily be seen that this sin to this last mentioned extent --punishable with the second death--could not possibly have beencommitted prior to the Gospel age, since not until Pentecost didthe Holy Ghost come as a teacher to guide the church into thetruth.--John 16:13. It had in past time been active through holymen of old, as they--"spoke and wrote as they were moved bythe Holy Ghost," but it moved them to write but not tounderstand. It came upon the prophets as servants tocommunicate; it comes to us as a seal of sonship, and to enableus as sons to understand our Father's will.--Rom. 8:14.Consequently in previous ages none ever "tasted of the goodword of God," or "became partakers of the Holy Ghost," etc.,and consequently none who lived in past ages could sin awayforever all hope of a future life.The millions of past ages never have been recovered from thefirst death (Adamic) in any sense, and must be so recoveredbefore it will be possible for them to commit the "sin untodeath."--Heb. 6:4,6. That Israelites, Sodomites, Egyptians, andothers have not fully lived up to the knowledge they possessedR261 : page 55we doubt not, and they will doubtless, therefore, have "stripes"in the coming age for sins not pardoned by Jesus' ransom.We are glad to say that we believe very few have evercommitted this "Sin unto death;" that very few ever possessed